Monday Moment #122: a writing prompt for your work-in-progress

(If you’ve already read this then skip past all the italicized blah-di-blah and start writing.) Monday Moments are writing prompts for your work-in-progress. They are questions that come from my experiences and are my favorite way to find out more about my characters. I find I learn a lot. Some of it I use. Some of it I don’t. But I always, always get to know my characters better just by answering the question. I hope you do too.)


My oldest girlie is graduating from 5th grade this week. I can hardly believe how fast she's grown and what a cool, young person she is. I enjoy her so very much.

We're creating a poster for her with pictures from baby to present, and it has me reminiscing. On the day she was born one of the first things we noticed about her was her tiny mouth. She'd pucker it into an itty-bitty rose bud that was so precious. We were amazed at how small she could make it.

Now she considers a shape she can make with her mouth one of her talents. She calls it her Super Frown. And she's proud of it. But seriously, you give it a try. That Super Frown is not doable for everyone. Take a look:

She can make that mouth of her into the perfect sad arch. Actually, I don't even think that's her best effort, it's just the only picture I have. Oh...I'm such a proud mom.

This got me thinking about characters and their physical quirks. Most people have some strange thing they can do with a body part that many others can't. (No dirty jokes here, people!) Sometimes it's something embarrassing that is kept hidden. Other times it's used as a form of entertainment, whether it's because it's comical or disgusting.

What physical quirk does your character have?